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R. HEPFIN'G'ER. Tack Hammer (No Model.)

No. 239,777. Patented April 5, i881.

N-PETERS, FHOTD-LITHOGRAPBER, WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD HEPFINGER, OF SILVER CREEK, NEW YORK.

TACK-HAMMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 239,777, dated April 5, 1881.

Application filed September 9, 1880. (No model.)

The object of this invention is to do away with the necessity of holding the tacks in place with the fingers, or partly inserting them by hand into the substance into which they are to be driven, which operation is very disagreeable and inconvenient, owing to the shortness of the tacks.

My invention consists in providing a tackhammer with a pair of jaws, between which the head of the tack is clamped and firmly held in driving the tack, and with a releasing tack; also, of the particular construction and combination of the parts constituting my improved hammer, as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved tack-hammer. Fig. 2 is a similar view, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the clamping-jaws and releasing device. Fig. 4 is a bottom-plan view thereof. Fig. 5 is a cross-section in line a: m, Fig. 3.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

A represents the handle, and B the head, of the tack-hammer.

b is the face of the head, formed, in the usual way, at one end of the head, and O is a removable sleeve attached to the opposite end, I), of the head B bymeans of a screw-thread formed in theinner side of the inner end of the sleeve,

and engaging with an external screw-thread formed in the end b of the head B.

D D represent the two clamping-jaws, pivoted with their inner ends between two projecting lugs, 11, formed on the face of the end b of the head, and projecting with their outer ends through a slot, 0, in the end of the sleeve 0. The outer ends of the jaws D are each provided with an angular recess, f, on their inner sides,in which the head of the tack is clamped, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

g is a spring, arranged between the jaws D D, for holding the same apart. his a slidingloop, which surrounds the inner ends of the jaws D D, and which serves to close the jaws when the loop is moved outward, and which permits the jaws to separate under the action of the spring y when the loop is moved toward the fulcrum of the jaws.

t'is a spring, which is interposed between the loop h and the end b of thehead of the hammer, so as to press the loop outward, and 7c is a push-rod, which is attached to the loop h, and extends outward through a hole in the end of the sleeve 0. The outer end of the push-rod 7c is bent so as to clear thejaws, and provided with a knob, The latter is arranged at such a distance in frontof the ends of the jaws that the point of the tack which is held between the jaws projects so far beyond the knob that the tack can be driven into the wood or other material sufficiently to give it a firm held before the face of the knob It strikes the wood, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

By pressing against the knob 70 the jaws are separated, when the head of the tack is introduced between the jaws. The knob is is now released, when the jaws close and clamp the head of the tack between them in their an gular recessesf. The tack is now firmly attached to the hammer, and can be readily driven wherever it may be desired.* In driving the tack the point thereof first enters the object sufficiently to give the tack a firm hold in the same, when the knob It strikes the object, thereby opening the jaws and releasing the tack. The hammer is then reversed and the tack driven home by applying the face b of the hammer. In this manner tacks can be readily driven overhead in a ceiling, or in other places which are difficult of access.

I claim as my invention- I 1. The combination, with the head of a tack-- hammer, of the pivoted clamping-jaws D D, a

spring, 9, tending to open the jaws,'& 100p, h, push-rod 7a, and spring 1), arranged within the and spring 1', tending to close thejaws, and a sleeve (J, the jaws D D and the push-rod it pror0 push-rod,k, whereby theloop h can be released, jecting through the sleeve, substantially asset thereby permitting the jaws to open, suhstanforth.

5 tially as setforth. RICHARD HEPFINGER.

2. The combination, with the head B of a Witnesses: tack-hammer, of the hollow sleeve 0, provided J. M. SWIFT, with slot 6, pivoted jaws D D, spring 9, loop h, GEO. E. MILLARD. 

